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Well Gennady Golovkin vs. Saul Alvarez is history. We got the fight we wanted on paper but for me we did not get it on the canvas. It was an interesting fight at most. No blame associated with Golovkin. He was just a little more cautious than usual but made the fight. Alvarez seemed to want to steal the fight not win it. If Golovkin had not forced the action there would not have been much action. For a known big puncher Alvarez spent more time avoiding trading punches than throwing them. I don’t know what his overall games plan was. At times I thought it was to let the eight years older Golovkin punch himself out and indeed he did mop-up the last three rounds on the cards of all three judges but that just goes to show how little he had done over the first nine rounds. For me Golovkin won the fight clearly but if others saw it differently-even Ms Byrd-that’s OK it is inherent in the way fights are scored. Golovkin came away with his reputation intact. Alvarez is still a great fighter and for sure a future Hall of Fame inductee and he will be in more big fights but for me he turned in a mediocre performance. Hopefully they will fight again and sooner rather than later. We saw how delaying the Floyd Mayweather Jr vs. Manny Pacquiao fight for too long a time took some of the edge of it and neither fighter was at his peak when they did clash.

If you needed an indication of how different boxing is today then you just need to see how easy it was to make fights 60-70 years ago. The then unbeaten Sugar Ray Robinson outpointed Jake LaMotta in October 1942. LaMotta got his revenge with a points win over Robinson in February 1943. They fought again three weeks later when Robinson won. Two of the biggest names in boxing in that era and they fought each other twice in three weeks! So sad to see that the “Ragin Bull has passed. He fought everyone who was anyone in his era. Typically for an incident filled career he won the title in September 1950 when with the fifteenth round starting he was behind on all three cards against Frenchman Laurent Dauthuille but he knocked Dauthuille out just 13 seconds before the final bell in what was the Ring Magazine Fight of the Year. Who did he lose the title to? Well Robison of course. That put Robinson 5-1 up in their series and was the last time they fought each other. LaMotta was an ever present at the Hall of Fame inauguration days and even in his nineties a lively spirited man as befits one of the great fighters of his era. RIP Jake.

I was surprised and sorry to read that Andre Ward has decided to retire. He goes out at the top and unbeaten. He scored victories over Mikkel Kessler, Arthur Abraham, Carl Froch, Chad Dawson and Sergey Kovalev twice, in fact all of the big names around in his two spells of competing at the top. Kovalev and Carl Froch were the only ones to get close to victory over the “Son Of God” with three scores of 114-113 giving him a controversial win over Kovalev in their first fight and two of the judges scored for Ward 115-113 when he beat Froch. If he has lost his passion for the sport then he has made the right decision but it is a pity that he took almost two years out when at his peak and I just feel he could have achieved even more but for that break. Good luck Andre-and please stay retired.

Ward’s most recent adversary Sergey Kovalev will return to the ring in November in New York with Ukrainian Vyacheslav Shabranskyy in the other corner. Not a bad fight but with Shabranskyy having been down three times and knocked out by Sullivan Barrera in December that takes a bit of the shine off it.

We have Joseph Parker vs. Hughie Fury on Saturday night which kicks off a series of heavyweight title fights that will see all four versions of the heavyweight title on the line. Naturally right now an Anthony Joshua fight is the biggest news in the heavyweights and he puts his IBF and WBA titles on the line against Bulgarian Kubrat Pulev in Cardiff on 28 October. Neither fighting in the United Kingdom or facing a British opponent will be new for Pulev as he won a European gold medal in Liverpool and is 3-0 against British fighters but Joshua is naturally the favourite and it will be interesting to see whether he can get Pulev out of there quicker than the five rounds it took Wlad Klitschko to do it. The third in the series is Deontay Wilder vs. Luis Ortiz in New York on 4 November. The Cuban is 38-years-old and the only names on his record are Bryant Jennings and Tony Thompson-neither really stellar quality but it says everything about how Wilder has hand-picked his opponents that this is seen as his sternest test so far. By December it could be all change or as you were but at least the heavyweight division is interesting again.

The IBF have ordered negotiations between Tevin Farmer and Kenichi Ogawa for their super feather title. It became vacant when Gervonta Davis failed to make the weight for his defence against Francisco Fonseca last month. Ogawa is No 4 and Farmer No 5. The first two places are vacant because no fighter has beaten a rated fighter so no one can go into those spots. Australian Billy Dib is No 3 but seems to be sidelined but there might be a stipulation for the winner of Ogawa vs. Farmer to defend against Dib.

The WBO have refused Zou Shiming’s request for an immediate rematch with Japanese fighter Sho Kimura who lifted the Chinese fighter’s flyweight title with an eleventh round stoppage in July. Instead the WBO have ordered Kimura to defend against Toshiyuki Igarashi. There is some justice there as Igarashi has been their No 1 since March and he was by-passed and the No 6 Kimura was given the title shot. [Ed's note - Igarashi did suffer a notable fracture to his eye earlier this year, delaying his shot at the title]

As I write this the second quarter-final in the cruiser ranks of the World Boxing Super Series between Yunier Dorticos and Dmitry Kudryashov will take place in San Antonio tomorrow night. The initial fight between Oleg Usyk and Marco Huck was disappointingly one-sided but this one should be more competitive. Dorticos secondary WBA title will be on the line but with the possible rewards from winning this tournament the WBA trinket is an irrelevance.

The Callum Smith vs. Erik Skoglund fight was a good showpiece for the tournament. Although Skoglund fought way beyond my expectations I saw Smith as a clear winner. Not unnaturally Skoglund saw it differently and has claimed that if the fight had been anywhere except Liverpool he would have won. Well he is entitled to his opinion just as Adelaide Byrd is. The Chris Eubank Jr vs. Avni Yildirim figures to be a good fight. Despite his high WBC No 3 rating (IBO champion Eubank is No 4) Yildirim is yet to be in a high profile fight and Eubank is a big step in level of opposition. However the Turkish fighter is a very tough proposition. He is a pressure fighter who will be in Eubank’s face for three minutes of every round so it should be a real war. If either fighter falls out for any reason the first reserve is unbeaten German Stefan Haertel but either Eubank or Yildirim would be a he step up for Haertel

Going back to San Antonio Nonito Donaire has his first fight since his loss to Jesse Magdaleno for the WBO title and he takes on Mexican Ruben Garcia for the vacant WBC Silver title at featherweight. It is ten years since Donaire won his first world title and of course he has gone on to be a four division champion. It seems that at 34 there is still plenty of ambition there. Garcia has impressive looking statistics at 22-2-1 but his record has some heavy padding with his last seven victims having combined records of 17-69-2. Curiously for a title which the WBC put so much emphasis on neither Donaire nor Garcia is in their top 40.

After giving it some thought Roman Gonzalez has decided to fight on. His crushing loss to Srisaket had him seriously considering retirement but he has said he wants to bring another title back home to Nicaragua.

A show is being staged in Paris by the Asloum group as a tribute to young French boxer Angelique Duchemin. The 26-year-old “Princess of the Ring” died during a training session in the gym possibly due to a pulmonary embolism. She won the French and European super feather titles and in May added the WBFederation title. Such a tragedy. The main event will see Karim Guerfi defending his European bantamweight title against Belgian Stephane Jamoye with French lightweight Elhem Mekhaled facing Cindy Bonhiver in a lightweight fight between two French female fighters. There are some other French fighters turning out for this tribute show.

Puerto Rico lost one of its finest boxing journalists and public relations experts with the death of Mario Rivera Martino at the age of 94. I grew up reading Mario’s reports in Ring Magazine so he is part of my memories from those days so long ago. He also did a great job as PR consultant to the WBO and wrote for Sports Illustrated but for me he will always be an important part of that era when my interest in boxing started to flourish. Thank you Mario. And RIP.

Forty-year-old former cruiserweight champion Tomasz Adamek is going to fight on and is in training for a fight later this year but no opponent named.

Boxing is a universal sport embraced by all peoples. However there have been very few Native Americans who have made headlines. There have been a number competing over the years in the US National Championships and the National Golden Gloves but very few in the pros. For that reason it is always good to see a young Native American dipping his toe in the pro ranks. On 16 September on a small show in Oregon State fairgrounds Salem super feather Blaiwas Eaglepipe took a six round decision in his first pro fight. He ended up with a few cuts here are and there due to some headwork from his opponent-welcome to the pro game Eagelpipe! He is a descendant of “Captain Jack” a leader of the Modoc tribe which resisted the US Army for many months in the lava beds of Oregon before being forced to surrender. I will leave young Eaglepipe alone now as he is just starting out and he needs time to develop his career under experienced trainer Fred Ryan away from any undue publicity. I wish him well.A couple of interesting fights coming up in Africa. On 6 October South African Mzuvukile “Old Bones” Magwaca 19-0-3 puts his IBF Inter-Continental bantamweight title on the line against Namibian Immanuel Naidjala 23-3-1in Kimberley South Africa. Magwaca already holds the WBFederation title. In Accra Ghana aging Braimah Kamoko faces young pretender Bastie Samir on 21 October. The 37-year-old Kamoko has never lost a fight but due to serious questions raised over his eye-sight has never fought outside Ghana. This will be his first fight since December 2015. Samir, 26, turned pro in the USA and had his first 11 fights there going 10-0-.1 He then built his record to 15-0-1 but was inactive in 2014 and 2015 and had just one fight in 2016. In world terms this is a non-event but when it was first announced the fans broke down the doors for tickets. There has been plenty of publicity for the fight but Kamoko styling himself the “African Mayweather” is taking things too far.

I have left any comments on the scoring at the Golovkin vs. Alvarez fight until the end as it just served to divert some attention away from the fight and I don’t want to do the same. I am not going to pillory Adelaide Byrd. I had it 117-112 for Golovkin so I also disagreed greatly with Byrd’s score but also to a lesser degree with hose tuned in by the other two judges but the social media also shows there are plenty out there who had Alvarez the winner. Byrd has worked as a judge for 443 fights including 107 world title fights across the whole span on the sanctioning bodies. I looked at every one of those 107 fights and struggled to find more than one or two instances where she differed to any significant degree with the other two judges. Just eight days before she officiated at the Golovkin vs. Alvarez fight she worked the fight between David Benavidez and Ronald Gavril for the vacant WBC super middle title. Byrd and Dave Morrell scored it 116-111 and 117-111 respectively for Benavidez. Glen Trowbridge scored it 116-111 for Gavril. There is a huge gap between how Morrell and Trowbridge saw the fight-but no big hullabaloo-hey that’s boxing. On the same night in Cebu City one judge had Milan Melindo winning 117-110 and another had Hekkie Budler winning 115-113 and even on the same Golovkin vs. Alvarez show one judge had Ryan Martin winning 96-93 and another had Francisco Rojo winning 99-91.

When you look at Byrd’s score in that context it is just another example of the ridiculous way of scoring boxing matches we are stuck with. Her scorecard was no worse than many others we see every week. She gets pilloried because the event was such a big one and the scoring in the Melindo vs. Budler and Benavidez vs. Gavril hardly merit anything other than a side note.

I have said before that if boxing was invented tomorrow there would some form of computerised scoring used. Even that is not perfect for as the saying goes “rubbish in rubbish out” so the accuracy depends on the competence of the operator. CompuBox is already effectively doing that type of computer approach showing punches thrown, punches landed, jabs thrown/landed, power punches thrown/landed but I find myself wonder how many light jabs equal one power punch? One, ten, twenty. Is that written down somewhere and if so who devised the system? So even registering the punches landed is not the end of the complex calculations. I have seen it suggested that punch counting might work but then you need to decided if you are going to add all the punches at the end and see who has landed more in the whole fight or allocate on a round by round basis i.e. 10 points to the guy who landed more in that round . Sounds OK but what if a guy scores one more punch per round for nine rounds and his opponent sores 20 more punches in the last, and does a knockdown just count as one punch? We are stuck with what we have and you can be sure there will be some controversy over scoring in fights this weekend-and for ever more. That’s the bad news on scoring boxing matches-there is no good news.

Well it’s over. The elephant in the room that distracted boxing fans for a few weeks and earned a fortune for two millionaires is over and done with. It was a huge event but not a great or even good fight and if you paid to see it then once you boast “I was there” it’s difficult to think of anything else you can say about it. Conor McGregor fought better than most forecast but not much better than could be expected from a man competing in a sport for which he was ill-prepared against one of the great exponents of the that sport. McGregor’s inexperienced showed in the way he flapped and pawed with some of his punches and in how quickly he tired in fighting three minute rounds. Floyd Mayweather fought a smart fight. There is no way McGregor could have anticipated that Mayweather would steal the patented high guard, walk forward and work inside tactics of Arthur Abraham. When the punch stats showed that one fighter had thrown only 20 jabs in the ten rounds- and that it was Mayweather- that was a real shocker. A bit like a foil fencer using a broad axe, but it worked. The hope now is that it is the last of these cross-discipline circuses.

The Nevada Commission was obviously worried that the fight might start before the first bell. They actually had one official standing with his arm outstretched in front of each fighter ready to restrain them as the referee gave his final instructions. Even the commission believed the hype.

With that out of the way we can now focus on the real business at hand. The Gennady Golovkin vs. Saul Alvarez fight. It’s a true fans fight a real grudge match promising explosive action with Golovkin having an 89% KO/TKO ratio with 23 wins by KO/TKO in his last 24 fights and Alvarez a respectable 69% with youth and a great chin in a fight where who can take it rather than who can dish it out could be the decider. The ingredients are there for a middleweight version of “Joshua vs. Klitschko” with three of the four versions of the middleweight title on the line. This fight is everything that Mayweather vs. McGregor was not.

With WBO champion Joseph Parker defending against Hughie Fury on 23 of September, Anthony Joshua defending his IBF and WBA titles against Kubrat Pulev on 28 October and Deontay Wilder putting his WBC title on the line against Luis Ortiz in New York on 4 November the heavyweight division is heating up. Parker is very much the poor relation in this with his WBO title having lesser value but as with the Wilder vs. Ortiz fight the big prize is a fight with Anthony Joshua if Joshua gets past Pulev-and he should. For the Wilder vs. Ortiz fight to take place stand aside money will have to be paid to the WBC no 1 Bermane Stiverne. The situation with the former champion is ridiculous. He is No 1 with the WBC but has not fight since November 2015. OK it was not his fault that the fight with Alex Povetkin fell through when the Russian tested positive for a banned substance. There is talk of Stiverne vs. Dominic Breazeale but if Stiverne decides not to risk that fight and opts to take the stand aside money and then wait to fight the winner it will be more than two years since he had a fight. That’s almost a silly as the WBA who due to a court ruling still have an obligation to include their No 3 Fres Oquendo in their ratings and in a title fight even though Oquendo has not fought since July 2014.

Despite positive sounds from both sides a fight between WBC light heavy champion Adonis Stevenson and Badou Jack, the new holder of the secondary WBA title, is probably dead in the water. Firstly the WBC No 1 Eleider Alvarez has wasted no time in insisting Stevenson has to fight him and the WBC would have to back Alvarez in that. Even if the Stevenson vs. Jack fight did come off it would not be e unification fight as Jack only holds the secondary WBA title and if Stevenson won it would be ludicrous for the holder of the WBC title to be shown only as holder of the secondary WBA title. The WBA have order Jack to defend against their interim champion Dmitry Bivol. By ordering this is it possible the WBA are working towards one “universally recognised “champion in each division. Dream on! They still have nine secondary champions and four interim champions.

I was away on a tour of the Cities of Eastern Europe and missed the Terrence Crawford vs. Julius Indongo fight but caught the replay. Indongo had looked very useful in destroying Eduard Troyanovsky and outclassing Ricky Burns but Crawford was another couple of levels above at least. There are some tasty morsels out there if the fights can be put together such as Crawford vs. Errol Spence, Keith Thurman, Danny Garcia or Mikey Garcia. His time as unified champion was short as he had no interest in fighting Sergei Lipinets so he relinquished the IBF title. Lipinets is the IBF No 1 beacuse he has beaten someone who was rated in the IBF top 15 at the time they fought. That was Lenny Zappavigna. A little bit of adjustment was undertaken. Zappavigna was No 7 and Lipinets was No 8 and although neither had had another fight before they met by Zappavigna was No 3 and Lipinets No 4.To again show the questionable positioning of fighters in their ratings behind Lipinets the No 2 spot is vacant and Japanese fighter Akihiro Kondo is No 3. Why is Kondo not No 2? That’s because he can’t be No 2 as he has never fought anyone in the IBF top 15 but somehow qualifies to be No 3! The reason they can’t put him to No 2 is that when Bobby Lee Snr was arrested by the IBF for allegedly selling spots in the IBF ratings one of the rule changes they had to adopt was not to put someone in the mandatory or No 2 position unless they had beaten someone in the top 15. Perhaps we should get the FBI instead of the IBF to do the ratings. I am still proud of the letter that Lee sent to Boxing News complaining strongly about my criticisms of what I saw as blatant manipulation of their ratings by the IBF. He finished the letter by saying “we are watching you”. He should have been watching his Ratings Chairman Doug Beavers who was wearing an FBI wire. Happy days.

The WBC are sending out some very mixed signals. They are donating Diamond Belts to the winner of the Super Series at cruiser and super middle so effectively endorsing and supporting the tournament. However despite Callum Smith being their No 1 super middle he has been well and truly shafted. They had ordered a fight between Smith and Anthony Dirrell in September for their vacant title but Dirrell refused to accept the date or the terms effectively ruling himself out. In the meantime Smith had signed to fight Erik Skoglund on 16 September in the quarter-finals of the Super Series. The WBC then tried to set up a Dirrell vs. David Benavidez fight for their title but injury ruled Dirrell out of that. Instead they have agreed that Benavidez fights Ron Gavril for the vacant title. Gavril rose in the WBC ratings from No 27 to No 16 for beating 11-1 Chris Booker and from 16 to No 6 for beating unrated 16-5-1 Decarlo Perez so a very questionable elevation. Now Smith finds himself out of the title picture because he is fighting in the very Super Series that the WBA have endorsed. You can’t endorse a tournament and then penalise people for participating in it that is the worst kind of double speak.

Shane Mosley has finally hung up his gloves. He had a great career and as a three division champion who fought in 23 world title fights (excluding a couple of interim title fights) and beat Oscar De La Hoya twice, Fernando Vargas, Antonio Margarito and many others will eventually be a candidate for the Hall of Fame. His legacy will always have a blemish in my eyes after he admitted taking steroids but claimed he did not know what they were. His claim for $12 million against the head man at BALCO the company that supplied him with the substances who alleged on numerous occasions that Mosley knowingly took them was dropped. Richard Schaefer, then with Golden Boy, actually asked if the Nevada Commission could investigate allegations that Mosley was using the BACO supplied steroids at the time of his 2003 win over Oscar De La Hoya and continued to use them until 2005 whether Mosley’s win over De la Hoya could be overturned but was told it could not. There is no way of knowing in which of Mosley’s fights he was using the banned substances.

On the subject of the De La Hoya clan cousin Oscar faces a tough test on 16 September when he fights former undefeated IBF champion Randy Caballero. The 23-year-old Diego is 19-0. Caballero seemed poised to become a big name after he beat Stuart Hall for the IBF title in October 2014 but nothing has gone right for him since. He was inactive in 2015 which resulted in the IBF stripping him of the title and had only one fight in 2016. He had a win over WBC title challenger Jesus Ruiz in March so hopefully he is back on track.

So sad to read of the death of Frank Quill. The Australian was a huge influence in the Australian National Boxing Federation and a long-time member of the WBC. He was also a good friend and a true gentleman and any time spent with him was a pleasure. I will miss him greatly.​Crime report: Some muggers in Argentina picked the wrong victim. Former WBA lightweight champion Raul Balbi was out with his daughters when a couple of villains tried to rob them. Balbi flattened one and chased and caught the other. Less palatable is the news that Argentinian middleweight Amilcar Funes has been arrested for alleged involvement in a botched robbery that led to murder.

There seems to be a serious outbreak of retirement disease and it appears to be infectious as Wlad Klitschko, Tim Bradley, Takashi Miura and Takashi Uchiyama have all announced their retirement within the last two weeks and Miguel Cotto has said he will end his career this year. I have this theory that says if you hang around long enough you can eventually become popular (I’m still waiting). Klitschko has dominated heavyweight boxing for 14 years. Effectively after Lennox Lewis retired in 2003 Wlad and brother Vitali reigned supreme. Their dominance made the heavyweight division moribund. Everyone put up against them proved unable to find a way to deal with their clever use of their strengths and to anybody except a Klitschko fan heavyweight title fights were repetitive and boring. To hold that against them was obviously unfair. They were there to win and if they had tactics that ensured them of victory why should they change. Wlad built an amazing record of 25-4 in world title fights with 19 wins by KO/TKO. He was a huge draw in Germany but never really captured the hearts of boxing lovers elsewhere. Tremendous respect-yes-that special bond between a great fighter and the boxing followers-no. As is often the case he finally did win those hearts when losing to Anthony Joshua in the best heavyweight title fight seen for ages. Both Wlad and his brother Vitali have been great ambassadors for boxing in their outside of the ring activities giving millions to charities and involving themselves deeply in the future of their home country of Ukraine. This year it will be more than five years since Vitali retired and that will make him eligible for placing on the ballot paper for the International Boxing Hall of Fame and Wlad will I am sure be on the paper in five years time.

As with Klitschko Tim Bradley has never received the recognition he deserved for his achievements. The little Californian was WBC and WBO super light champion and twice WBO welter champion. He lost only one of 12 world title fights and beat Lamont Peterson, Devon Alexander, Manny Pacquiao, Ruslan Provodnikov, Juan Manuel Marquez, Jessie Vargas and Brandon Rios. His only losses were in the two return matches with Pacquiao. That is a record anyone could be proud of. He may have lacked the spectacular style of some but he worked hard and found a way to win and to some extent overachieving. However, some will never forgive him for the split decision win over Pacquiao. Again he may not have captured the hearts of the fans but he deserves more recognition and respect than he gets. Best of luck in the future Tim.

Miura and Uchiyama clashed in 2011 in a WBA super feather title fight which Uchiyama won on an eighth round retirement. Miura went on to win the WBC title in 2013 and made five defences, four of them against Mexican fighters including Francisco Vargas who took Miura’s title in an exciting war of attrition which saw both fighters on the floor. He earned a shot at the title again by knocking out Miguel Roman but in his challenge to Miguel Berchelt on15 July he was comprehensively outboxed and has timed his retirement well. Uchiyama was a strong WBA super feather champion making 12 title defences and going 24-0-1 in his first 25 fights. He lost his title on a shock two round wipe out against Jezreel Corrales in April last year and lost a split decision to Corrales in December. The success enjoyed by these continued a great tradition of Japanese fighters in the lower divisions and guys such as Naoya Inoue and Kosei Tanaka are now carrying the torch.

Cotto fights for the vacant WBO against Japanese fighter Yoshihiro Kamegai in Carson on 26 August. His talk of ending his career on 31 December does not leave him much time for another fight and I can’t believe that if he wins he will walk away if there is the chance of another big fight for him but we will see.

I can’t believe there are many tears being shed over the current chaos in the AIBA. If you will pardon the phrase the gloves are off in the infighting going on there. An Interim Management Committee (IMC) is pursuing legal action against President Ching-Kuo Wu and they have gone to court to block Wu’s access to the AIBA funds and to the headquarters in Lausanne. There allegations of financial irregularities and even suggestions that the AIBA is almost bankrupt. A rule was introduced in 2010 saying no President could be re-elected after three mandates have been completed. Wu entered the office in 2006 was re-elected in 2010 and again in 2014 but he claims that the 2010 rule was not retroactive so he asserts he can be re-elected for 2018 and 2022. An Extraordinary Congress will be held in October and you can be sure there will be blood on the floor but whilst feeling some delight at the position Wu, a man who has caused such anger over his insisting professionals be allowed to box at the Olympics, finds himself in it is amateur boxing which is suffering right now with an absence of leadership. A big factor is the International Olympic Committee which has not yet issued any statement and whichever party they endorse will be in a very strong position. It is not out of the question that there could be a schism in amateur boxing but let’s hope not.

Klitschko’s retirement has thrown a spanner in the works of the heavyweight division. We had Joshua vs. Klitschko II to look forward to but now Kubrat Pulev looks the only viable option if Joshua is going to fight this year. With Deontay Wilder fighting Luis Ortiz and Joseph Parker defending against Hughie Fury and Tyson Fury again hinting retirement the other options are dire. The sooner we get a crop of young heavyweights coming through the better then we can get rid of dead wood such as Bermane Stiverne, Alex Ustinov, Shannon Briggs, Fres Oquendo, Manuel Charr etc .

There are some young heavyweights out there. On 30 September in Magdeburg unbeaten German hope Tom Schwarz 19-0 puts his WBO Inter-Continental title on the line against Pole Marcin Siwy 17-0 and on 6 October in Paris Olympic gold medallist Tony Yoka has his second fight. The pressure of expectation on Yoka is almost as intense as that on Anthony Joshua when he turned pro. There are also some very exciting British prospects such as Daniel Dubois, Joe Joyce and Nat Gorman and Swede Otto Wallin.

What a mess the sanction bodies make of our sport. Jorge Linares will defend the WBC light title against Luke Campbell at the Forum in Inglewood on 23 September. Simple a good fight but for which WBC title? The WBC show in their ratings: Champion: Mikey Garcia, Diamond Champion: Jorge Linares! If Campbell beats Linares he will not be WBC Champion but WBC Diamond Champion-whatever that means. They said they were getting rid of interim titles but didn’t. They introduced Silver titles to replace the interim titles-but kept the interim titles. Then they invented diamond titles what next? Platinum, titanium, nickel, krypton, tellurium, xenon-I don’t want to worry you but there are 118 chemical elements!

The WBA have been in their bossy boots mood this week. They have ordered Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam to defend his secondary middleweight title against Japanese fighter Ryota Murata. N’Jikam outpointed Murata for the vacant title in Japan in May which proved highly controversial. With the importance of the Japanese market it was obvious the WBA would take this action. Personally I did not think it was a bad decision. Murata did almost nothing over the first half of the fight but that was overlooked due to his stronger finish. The WBA have also instructed Kazuto Ioka to defend his flyweight title against No 1 challenger Artem Dalakian. Typical of the WBA is that Dalakian has never fought a rated opponent but somehow gets to No 1. There is talk of the WBA moving their offices I would like to suggest the Marianas Trench as a suitable site.

To be fair to them they did take action against Shannon Briggs- if a six month suspension counts as a punishment. No wonder some fighters are willing to take the chance of using banned substances if six months is considered suitable punishment The gap between Briggs last two fights has been six months and eighth months which makes a six month ban a farce particularly as they let him retain his No 3 rating. The fact is that the WBA cannot stop Briggs fighting as their ban only applies to fights sanctioned by the WBA so Briggs could fight tomorrow and not be violating the ban. It is time the WBA stopped pontificating about fighting drugs in boxing and actually did something significant but they don’t have the guts to do so.

Sergey Kovalev will return to action before the end of the year. The former light heavy champion will fight in New York but no opponent mentioned yet.

Felix Verdejo is aiming to keep busy whilst waiting for Terry Flanagan to recover from his leg injury. Verdejo will fight on the undercard to the show in Tucson where Gilberto Ramirez defends his WBC super middle title against Jesse Hart and Oscar Valdez puts his WBO feather title on the line but no opponent named yet. Yuriorkis Gamboa is also returning. On 12 August in Cancun he goes up against Alexis Reyes. The Cuban is now 35 and you have to wonder where it all went wrong. At one time he was 23-0 and had held world titles in three divisions. What a waste of talent.

Two fighters with dust to shed will clash in Las Vegas on 22 August as Mickey Bey faces Anthony Peterson. Former IBF light champion Bey will be having his first fight since losing his title to Rances Barthelemy in June last year and Peterson his first since beating Samuel Kotey Neequaye in April last year. Time is running out for Peterson to take his career seriously. Former WBA champion Juan Carlos Payano takes on Alexis Santiago and Ashley Theophane, Ron Gavril, Ishe Smith and unbeaten Saul Rodriguez are scheduled to also appear on this show. Rey Vargas makes the first defence of his WBC title against Ronny Rios in Carson, California on 26 August and Antonio Margarito continues his comeback on 2 September in Chihuahua against Carson Jones. There is talk of Daniel Jacobs returning on 14 October in New York with no opponent named. Jacobs vs. Jermall Charlo down the line. That would be an explosive pairing.

Great bantam fight scheduled for Belfast with Zhanat Zhakiyanov defending his WBA title against IBF champion Ryan Burnett. A real 50/50 fight. Burnett will have home advantage but somehow I don’t think that will worry Zhakiyanov. He has fought in his native Kazakhstan, Russia, Uzbekistan, Thailand, Switzerland, England, Belarus, China, Northern Ireland, Australia and Monaco and he won the title against an American in America.

Poor Jorge Heiland. The Argentinian was first put in the No 1 spot by the WBC in April 2015 but contrary to past practice being No 1 did not make him the mandatory challenger (if the No 1 is not then who is?). After waiting two years to finally get to a point where he knows what he has to do to get the title shot he finds himself facing a much bigger opponent in Jermall Charlo. Then he injures his knee before the fight (he had the knee heavily taped when he climbed into the ring). You can’t blame him for going through with a fight he had no chance of winning. He had already waited two years and he must have feared that if he pulled out he would never get the chance.

Ghana’s former Commonwealth champion Richard Commey has signed a promotion contract with Di Bella Entertainment. Let’s hope that the combination of strong management from Michael Amoo-Bediako and the promotional skills and influence of Lou Di Bella can get Commey another world title shot.

In the case of South African cruiser Kevin Lerena he will be getting a title shot. The Johannesburg southpaw will face Youri Kayembre Kalenga for the vacant IBO cruiser title in his home city on 9 September. The undercard will see South African light middle champion Nkululeko Mhlongo try to rebound from three straight losses as he puts his title up for grabs against unbeaten Brandon Thysse. Mhlongo has never lost by KO/TKO but Thysse is 9-0 with 8 wins by KO/TKO.

German police are still investigating the murder of Tunahan Keser. The young German professional boxer disappeared on June 23 and his body was found dumped in a forest on 21 July. He had been shot. On the day before Keser disappeared his trainer Khoren Gevor was shot in a knee but the police are not able to definitely connect the two although there seems a high probability the two incidents are linked.

In my last Snips I wrote about how delighted people must have been to have seen the fight where two pro boxers, who were also lawyers, exchanged punches. A similar thing occurred at the show where Dominican Carlos Adames beat Carlos Molina. The press were kept outside the arena for 50 minutes and a few remarks were exchanged with the promoter’s representative who took off his coat and challenged one of the reporters to a bare fist fight in the parking lot. I had visions of a headline of “Press flattens Promoter” which might have made people think the promoter had stumbled into a dry-cleaning store.

Boxing continues to be a family business. Last week in Mexico Jose Angel Napoles had his first pro fight and drew in a super light four rounder. This Napoles is the grandson of the great Jose Angel “Mantequilla” Napoles .Now I feel ancient as I can recall being at ringside at the Empire Pool in 1972 to see Jose kayo Ralph Charles in seven rounds.

There is no doubt that Asia has produced many exceptionally talented championship boxers but unfortunately, many Asian icons have gone virtually unnoticed by boxing fans in Europe and America. No other Asian boxer has enjoyed the international fame and status like that of Manny Pacquaio, yet it cannot detract from their undeniable talent. During 2002, Ring Magazine included Khaosai Galaxy from Thailand, Fighting Harada from Japan and both Pancho Villa and Flash Elorde from the Philippines in their list of the 80 Greatest Fighters of the Last 80 Years - a great achievement for these often unrecognized boxers.

Here are the three top boxers that deserve worldwide fame.

Manny PacquiaoEmmanuel Dapidran "Manny" Pacquiao was born on 17 December 1978 and is a Filipino professional boxer and politician. He is the first and only 8-division World Champion having won an astonishing 11 world titles and is commonly considered to be one of the greatest boxers of all times. Pacquiao was the first boxer to win the lineal title in 5 different weight classes and also only the third boxer in the world (and the first from Asia)to win major titles in a total of 3 of the original 8 weight divisions in boxing also known as the "glamour divisions" of flyweight, featherweight, and welterweight.

Pacquiao was named the Fighter of the Decade for the 2000’s and was also awarded the Ring Magazine and BWAA Fighter of the Year award 3 times in 2006, 2008 and 2009. He has generated an excess of 19 million pay-per-view purchases and $1.2 billion in revenue. During 2015 he was also the 2nd highest paid athlete in the world according to Forbes Magazine. Many a boxing enthusiast is of the opinion that one of the best boxing matches in the history of the sport would have been between one of Africa’s boxing greats, legend Azumah ‘The Professor’ Nelson and Manny the Asian hero.

Khaosai GalaxySohla Saenghom (Khaosai Galaxy) was born 15 May 1959 and is a former professional flyweight boxer and Muaythai kickboxer. He practiced Thai fighting in the early 1980’s but on the advice of his trainer and manager he began training as a Western style boxer. Khaosai defended his WBA world title a remarkable 19 times in seven years spanning from 1984 to 1991 winning 16 of his title fights by way of knockouts. He is a member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame and is widely considered to be one of the greatest boxers of all times being ranked as #19 on the list of '100 Greatest Punchers of All Time' in Ring Magazine.

Yuh Myung-WooYuh Myung-Woo was born in Seoul, South Korea on 10 January, 1964. He is a two-time WBA light flyweight champion and considered to be one of the best boxers ever to have come out of South Korea. Yuh successfully defended his title 17 times during his first reign, the record for the light flyweight division surpassing the previous record of 15 defenses set by former WBC light flyweight champion, Jung Koo Chang. Yuh is one of only a handful of fighters to have successfully defended their light flyweight title at least 10 times in a single reign.

There is a long list of of Asian boxers that could be considered some of the best ever to have engaged in the sport regardless of whether they have received the recognition or not. As the popularity in boxing increases on the continent, one can only hope that the likes of Manny Pacquaio has paved the way for the next generation of Asian boxers.

The world keeps shifting under my feet and it is all just too much for my aging mind to deal with. We have a guy who has never been in a professional boxing match getting paid millions to fight a former pound-for-pound champion. We have a new boxing series which offers prizes huge enough to convince some of the best in the world to stop avoiding each other and fight. It has actually allowed the “seeded” fighters to hand pick their opponents-but from a very tough list- and in doing so leaves the four main sanctioning bodies sitting on the sidelines helpless whilst their titles are rendered superfluous and they suffer the loss of sanctioning fees. There are also changes I relish and despite the egos we can look forward to one of the most anticipated fights for years in Gennady Golovkin vs. Saul Alvarez and if Anthony Joshua and Wlad Klitschko can make their minds up whether they are going to agree the date of the last Saturday in November in Las Vegas we will also be getting the most eagerly anticipated return fight in the heavyweight division since….hell it’s been so long since there was one I can’t remember when.

The drums have been beating for Conor McGregor vs. Floyd Mayweather Jr and the stories have been trotted out about McGregor being floored in sparring and that the odds against a McGregor win have shortened dramatically etc. but in the end it will signify nothing. Whoever wins on 26 August it will mean nothing. It won’t change a single thing in the boxing world or prove anything. It is a manufactured spectacle of no long term significance to boxing but it will be a huge spectacle and by fight time I am going to be sick of people asking who I think will win. I will give them an honest answer-I don’t care.

The World Super Series Boxing (WSSB) Is a different matter altogether as it will provide lots of fights in a relatively short time that would either not have happened at all or taken years to put together. There is no obvious down side to it although kicking the series off by clashing with the Golovkin vs. Alvarez fight is not a good start but it will certainly provide us with some top class matches and that has to be good.

There was a lot of criticism in Germany over Arthur Abraham’s performance against Chris Eubank Jr. or the lack of it His long time trainer Ulli Wegner said that Abraham no longer had the heart for boxing. This performance and Abraham’s effort in April last year against Gilberto Ramirez where he lost every round have convinced many that at 37 he should retire. The title winning efforts of the Armenian born Abraham made him a millionaire at 37 and he has invested wisely in car dealerships and real estate so he does not need the money but he may not want to go out on such a humiliating loss.

There has been a war of words going on between the WBC and the AIBA. It really is a waste of time. The AIBA will not stop dabbling in professional boxing and as long as they have the stranglehold on Olympic boxing they have a strong position. Setting up alternative amateur competitions or threatening sanctions against boxers if they fight in any AIBA events is futile. If the AIBA really think they can shove their way into professional booxng and become a player then let them. They will be no match for the big pro promoters and will just become a sanctioning body that crosses the red line on conflict of interest by also being a promoter line and they will find things different when they try to play with the big boys. The remark in the AIBA’s letter that struck me as hypocritical was where the President of the AIBA said that the word “amateur” is outdated. This from the President of the AIBA the Association Internationale de Boxe Amateur!! As far as the Olympics go he is right in that in most Olympic sport it is a competition for professionals. The original ideal is dead and commercialism rules.

An indication of how things are changing is that just recently a Russian Boxing Federation has been formed from what were previously two separate bodies and they will control both amateur and professional boxing. The world keeps on changing.

Despite his June 3 fight against Fres Oquendo for the vacant secondary WBA title being cancelled after he tested positive for high testosterone levels Shannon Briggs is talking about resuming his quest for a shot the heavyweight title in October. Only in boxing could someone with two positive tests be talking about taking part in such a high profile event just four months after he gave a positive test. Hopefully it is only Briggs blowing wind but if he does fight Oquendo in October for the vacant secondary WBA title it will be a 45-year-old Briggs having his first fight for 17 months against a 44-year-old Oquendo who has not fought for 40 months. This should cause even the WBA to cringe with embarrassment.

Money matters in boxing so for those interested these were the reported purses for the fights at the weekend: Miguel Berchelt $250,000 Takashi Miura $195,000 Jezreel Corrales $75,000 Robinson Castellanos $50,000 Sullivan Barrera $120,000 Joe Smith Jr $160,000. So for a non-title ten round fight Smith took home more than Corrales and Castellanos earned between them for a title fight. It was also interesting that more money was paid out for the non-title show in Uniondale New York than in the title show in Inglewood. In Uniondale the purses were $250,000 each for both Omar Figueroa and Roberto Guerrero, $250,000 for Sean Monaghan $100,000 for Marcus Browne, $150,000 for Artur Szpilka and $100,000 for Adam Kownacki. So some big numbers but at the other end of the spectrum Top Rank won the bidding for the IBF welter eliminator between Konstantin Ponomarev and Carlos Ocampo reportedly with a bid of $30,000 which seems low. The winner of the eliminator will be the mandatory challenger to Errol Spence.

There must have been a time when Robinson Castellanos thought that appearing on a big show or being paid $50,000 for a fight or fighting for a world title were all impossible dreams. After turning pro in 2002 he went 10-10 in his first 20 fights including five losses by KO/TKO. From there he went 14-2 in his next 16 fights and ended up fighting Corrales for the WBA title-quite a turn around.

Sullivan Barrera’s win over Joe Smith Jr on Saturday has seen the two fighters now heading down very different paths. Barrera is being mentioned as a prospective opponent for both Sergey Kovalev and Nathan Cleverly and Smith is facing surgery for a fractured jaw he suffered in the second round of their fight. Boxing can be cruel and kind and this is a prime example of the way the pendulum can swing.

Whilst Barrera seems to be making progress Artur Beterbiev is finding banana skins. His proposed IBF eliminator with German Enrico Koelling was to be the main support to Mikey Garcia vs. Adrien Broner on 29 July but has had to be cancelled. It has been suggested that with Beterbiev being a Muslim from Dagestan the tighter visa restrictions introduced by the USA have caused both an application and an appeal to be refused but to complicate matters further there is a dispute between Yvon Michel and Beterbiev over the status of their contract and he still has a past manager going to the courts. The IBF have asked for purse bids for the fight by 25 July but even then nothing is certain. Will Andre Ward want to fight the winner or will he move up to cruiser, will Beterbiev fight if Michel wins the purse bidding, will Beterbiev solve his visa problems-too much uncertainty.

With their No 1 Callum Smith opting for the WSSB tournament the WBC have given a date of 28 July for purse offers for the match between Anthony Dirrell vs. David Benavidez for their vacant super middle title. On 18 August in Mendoza Argentinian Juan Carlos Reveco faces Thai Komgrich in a final eliminator to find a challenger for WBO fly champion Donnie Nietes

Good to see Billy Joe Saunders getting back into action. For a variety of reasons the WBO middleweight champion has made only one defence of his title in the 19 months since he won it. His challenger Willie Monroe was crushed in six rounds by Gennady Golovkin in 2015 but rehabilitated himself with a victory over tough Gabriel Rosado in September. In the division eliminators are already set with the WBC mandatory challenger coming from the winner of the fight between Jorge Sebastian Heiland and Jermall Charlo and the IBF from Tureano Johnson and Sergey Derevyanchenko. Neither Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam or Ryota Murata are likely opponents so if Saunders beats Monroe his list of top quality opposition is limited but things can change quickly in boxing.

The Firat Arslan vs. Goran Delic fight was not a classic. Arslan was much too good for the carefully protected Delic. The promoters missed out on a great ticket selling line-both fighters work as lawyers and I am sure there a lot of people who would gladly pay to see two lawyers beat each other up.

The “Super Series” tournaments are proving popular. Rodney Berman has already run a couple and now he is launching two more in October at super middle and super bantam which will feature both high profile fighters such as Simphiwe Vetyeka and also give some promising fighters their chance.

Two South African fighters will face Filipino fighters in world title bouts. Gideon Buthelezi will put his IBO super fly title on the line against Filipino Ryan Rey Ponteras in East London and Hekkie Budler heads out to Cebu City to challenge Milan Melindo for the IBF light fly title. It will a toughie for Budler as Melindo will be making the first defence of the title he won with a shock first round stoppage of Akira Yaegashi in Tokyo in May. Budler will be aiming to become a three division champion so won’t be fazed by travelling into the lion’s den.

One title fight per show is never enough in Japan and there will be two titles on the line in Osaka on 13 September. IBF super bantam champion Yukinori Oguni puts his title up against Ryosuke Iwasa and WBO light fly champion Kosei Tanaka defends his title against Thai Palangpol.

I can’t believe there is an outfit aiming to re-introduce bare knuckle fighting. The sport has enough of an image problem without someone taking us back to the bare knuckle days. They claim to already have acceptance from some Sates for this but I know that some countries will never legalise it. If someone suffered a serious injury it is difficult to see how a judge could view it any differently to a street fight and if someone if badly injured in a street fight the law offers no protection to any participant.

Unbeaten Isaac Dogboe continues to be a big draw in Ghana. He fights this weekend against Argentinian Javier Chacon in the first defence of his WBO International title. Chacon is his toughest test yet as the Argentinian went the distance in a challenge against Anselmo Moreno for the WBA bantam title in 2014 and challenged Jamie McDonnell for the secondary WBA title in 2014 when a dislocated shoulder forced him out of the fight. As for the eliminator status of the fight with Chacon not currently in the WBO top 15 that is not a final eliminator but another step along the path for the former Olympian.

Another important fight for a Ghanaian boxer will see Emmanuel Tagoe defending his IBO title against former IBF super feather champion Argenis Mendez. The Dominican was looking a bit like damaged goods after back to back losses to Robert Easter and Luke Campbell but last time out he scored a good win over Ivan Redkach and he is the highest profile fight the 30-year-old Tagoe has faced in his 13 year career.

So sad to read of the death of Paul Ferreri. The Australian was a truly talented boxer and a genuinely nice person. He was Australian champion at bantam, feather and super feather and Commonwealth champion at bantam and super bantam. His one world title shot came in 1976 against the great Carlos Zarate and he was stopped in twelve rounds. He was 17-2 in Australian title fights and 11-3 in Commonwealth title fights in a 78-13-5 record and was one of the greatest little men produced by Australia.

We also lost Eddie “The Animal” Lopez. The Californian heavyweight never reached the heights with a draw against Leon Spinks his highest profile achievement. His four losses in his 25-4-2 record were to John Tate, Gerry Cooney, Marty Monroe and Tony Tucker. Unfortunately Eddie was one guy boxing could not save as he was a member of one of the biggest gangs in East Los Angeles and was no stranger to jail or drugs.​Once again from my soapbox. The weekend saw more flapping glove tapes. Why can’t they tape the gloves up as normal and then just wind a band of good quality Velcro on top of the tape-or is that too simple? Historically the usual reason for a no contest was when the referee decided that one or both boxers were not giving their best and threw them both out. That was the stigma associated with a No Contest. That’s a sensible and valid use of No Contest. However If a fight ends inside four rounds due to a cut it and is not a win a loss or a draw then no decision is rendered so why do we not call it a No Contest when there was a valid contest but an unfinished one and no decision was rendered. Whoever came up with No Contest did not think it through. Here endeth the lesson!

After months of fierce competition the final of the World Series of Boxing took place at the Sport Palace in Astana as the Cuba Domadores took on the Astana Arlans with both sides looking to claim the WSB trophy for a 3rd time.

Kicking off proceedings were the Light flyweights (49kg) as Temirtas Zhussupov faced Johanys Argilagos. It was a real game of cat and mouse between them with neither man wanting to overcommit and make mistakes over the first 2 rounds. Argilagos landed more to take round 3 and Zhussupov’s slightly higher work rate saw him win the 4th. The Cuban needed a big last round but that never looked likely and Zhussupov won the unanimous decision to give his team the ideal start.

Next up at bantamweight (56kg) Ilyas Suleimenov was up against Javier Ibanez. Suleimenov made an aggressive start landing some clubbing blows to the body in an action packed opening round. Both had their successes in round 2 but the Kazak’s punches had more of an effect. Ibanez enjoyed a good round 3 and managed to keep Suleimenov at bay but he couldn’t really sustain the momentum and Suleimenov’s right hands were having far more of an impact. Despite the Kazak showing signs of fatigue in the final round he did more than enough to claim the unanimous decision to send the Arlans 2 nil up.

In a switch to the scheduled order the Heavyweights (91kg) were next in the ring as Anton Pinchuk had the dubious task of facing Erislandy Savon. Savon controlled the opening stanza with the jab and opened up more offensively in round 2 leaving Pinchuk with a mountain to climb. Pinchuk ploughed on gamely but simply wasn’t in the same league as Savon who strolled to a unanimous points victory giving the Domadores their first point of the final.

The 4th contest saw Dilmurat Mizhitov squaring off against the supremely gifted Andy Cruz at Light welterweight (64kg). Cruz easily swept the opening round and although Mizhitov showed more intent in the second he was simply unable to cope with the outstanding ability and class of the Cuban. Mizhitov managed to sustain a decent tempo in round 3 to make it competitive and the Kazak continued to pour on the pressure in round 4 however, Cruz was just too good and he got the deserved split decision leaving the match all square.

In what looked a fascinating bout at Middleweight (75kg) exciting Arlans youngster Abilkhan Amankul tangled with reigning Olympic and world champion Arlen Lopez. Lopez, whose form has been patchy in this season’s WSB shaded a tight first 3 minutes and the Cuban landed some nice body shots in round 2 but there was little to separate the pair. Lopez loaded up a lot in the 3rd and Amankul scored with a nice combination towards the end of the round. With it all to play for the penultimate round was desperately close before Lopez just did enough in the last to gain the narrow unanimous decision leaving the Cuban’s 3-2 up going in to the break.

The action then resumed with the Light heavyweights (81kg) as Arman Rysbek went up against the formidable Julio La Cruz. Rysbek was on the front foot in round 1 with La Cruz countering his Kazak opponent. Rysbek landed a nice right hand at the start of round 2 before La Cruz began to find his timing. Rysbek was made to miss on multiple occasions in round 3 and by now La Cruz was in full control of the contest. The pattern of the fight never altered and La Cruz sauntered to a wide unanimous decision and the Domadores were now 4-2 up.

It was now rather important for Olzhas Sattibayev to pull off the win against Yosbany Veitia at flyweight (52kg). Veitia landed the cleaner shots in a tight opening round and again the Cuban edged round 2 but neither man was scoring with many punches of significance. Sattibayev threw more punches in the 3rd but simply wasn’t hitting the target often enough. Sattibayev managed to close the distance more effectively in round 4 but Veitia won the final round to take the unanimous decision the leave the Arlans staring down the barrel at 5-2 down.

It was a case of must win for Super heavyweight (91+kg) Olzhas Bukayev against Yoandry Toirac. Toirac made a fast start and landed a number of solid shots in the opening round. Bukayev enjoyed far more success in the 2nd but Toirac was still scoring with some excellent combinations of his own. Toirac was deducted a point in round 3 for holding and was now up against it. The crowd really got behind Bukayev who responded accordingly and Toirac was fading in round 4. There was no doubt of the winner and Bukayev had given the Arlans a much needed life line.Next to take to the ring at lightweight (60kg) Zakir Safiullin simply had to beat Lazaro Alvarez. Both had their moments in the first round with Alvarez scoring with the left hand and Safiullin landing with the right hand and to the body. Alvarez was the busier in round 2 and at times Safiullin was waiting too long to throw his punches and was struggling a bit to deal with the volume from the Cuban. After a close 4th, Safiullin rocked Alvarez at the start of the 5th and the pair engaged in a highly entertaining last 3 minutes. We went to the cards and despite 2 point deductions Safiullin got the split decision to leave things beautifully poised at 5-4 to the Domadores.

In a high pressure clash at welterweight (69kg) Aslambek Shymbergenov took on Roniel Iglesias. Shymbergenov flew out of the traps early on in the opening stanza before Iglesias came back in to things as the round progressed. After an absorbing 2nd round which could have gone either way Shymbergenov won the 3rd with the right hand to the body proving to be a fruitful punch for the Kazak. Shymbergenov continued to pepper the body of Iglesias and was now taking full command of the contest. Going in to the last Iglesias needed a huge turn around but it never looked like materialising and the unanimous point’s victory for Shymbergenov completed a stunning comeback from the Arlans to send us in to a tie-breaker at flyweight (52kg).

The decider was contested between debutant Olzhas Bainiyazov and Frank Zaldivar. Zaldivar got off to a positive start and it seemed he may be a bit too much for Bainiyazov after the opening round. To his credit Bainiyazov responded well and outworked Zaldivar in round 2. The bout was now being fought mostly on the inside with both leaving it all in the ring. Bainiyazov had a terrific 4th round once again doing far more than his Cuban opponent and the Kazak remain composed to seal the victory via split decision and not only complete a phenomenal turn around but also giving the Astana Arlans their 3rd WSB trophy.

Over the last week the Asian Youth Championships have been taking place in Bangkok and today saw the 10 finals take place.

First up at light flyweight (49kg) Sachin Siwach was looking to add to his world Youth gold but the Indian had to be content with Silver as Uzbekistan’s Samanda Kholmurodov took gold via a unanimous decision.

It was then on to the bantamweights (56kg) and Hayato Tsutsumi gave Japan their second gold with a split victory over Thailand’s Pluem Wannglaklang. Tsutsumi won world Youth gold at flyweight and looks to be the next young phenom from the land of the rising sun.

In the light welterweight division at (64kg) Sanatali Toltayev, twin brother of Samatali also captured gold with a split verdict over Uzbek Bilolbek Mirzarakhimov.

The host’s last chance of a gold medal came in the welterweight (69kg) division but it wasn’t to be as Farrukh Ilkhomov from Uzbekistan defeated Phiraphat Yiasungnoen via split decision.

It was then time for the middleweights (75kg) and Uzbekistan’s Rajabboy Atanazarov prevailed over China’s Zhu Chao by split decision.

At light heavyweight (81kg) Iran’s Reza Hassan Nia pulled off a sensational win as he beat Timur Ergashev from Uzbekistan on a split point’s decision.

In the heavyweight (91kg) weight category it was a Kazak Uzbek showdown and it was Profsor Rorinsha from Uzbekistan who was victorious over Danila Semenov by split verdict.

The final bout of proceedings saw the super heavyweights (+91kg) take to the ring and in another Kazak Uzbek battle Lazizbek Mullojonov claimed the unanimous decision win over his Kazak opponent Nurdaulet Ulanuly.

Ed's note - Tsutsumi was later awarded the MVP award as the boxer of the tournament, and once again a huge thanks to Marcus for doing this for us!

There is an old Chinese curse which says” may you live in interesting times”. Well over the last couple of weeks we have certainly been living in interesting times in boxing. We had two major fights which ended in controversy, we had Gennady Golovkin and Saul Alvarez setting out to drum up interest in their coming fight (if you need to be “sold” on this fight you are obviously not a boxing fan) and the date for the Floyd Mayweather vs. Connor McGregor fight rolled out (if you buy this fight you are obviously not a boxing fan).

Apart from the controversy the Andre Ward vs. Sergey Kovalev fight was unremarkable. The first fight was much better. I had Kovalev one point in front but had given the sixth and seventh to Ward as Kovalev looked to be fading. The referee gave Kovalev a rough deal. On three occasions Kovalev stepped back to indicate he had been hit low and on each occasion Ward stopped also acknowledging that he had gone low. By not warning Ward the referee was almost inviting him to keep going low. You can never be 100% sure but I felt that even without the low blows Ward was on his way to a stoppage win. Kovalev made no complains. He made it clear Ward was the better fighter on the night and talked about being 34 and doing something else with his life. Naturally his team has launched a protest. They could not do otherwise. They are paid to look after Kovalev’s interests. I can’t see any action being taken to order a rematch and I don’t believe either fighter wants one at least not in the near future.

Ward has said he is looking at cruiser or even heavy. He is not signed up to VADA CBP so we can’t know what he might be smoking! There are fights at light heavy for him and perhaps even cruiser where apart from Olek Usyk the champions are not fearsome beasts. Tony Bellew is a possibility but Tony swings with the wind-he might retire, he might go up to heavyweight, he might fight Ward etc. Clean up your own house first Andre-fight Adonis Stevenson.

I have to feel sorry for Guillermo Rigondeaux. The brilliant Cuban gets labelled boring and when he finally scores a spectacular knockout he is one second out on his timing. Judging by precedents such as Rances Barthelemy vs. Argenis Mendez it is likely to end up as a No Decision and instead of moving on he will have to go over old ground. I felt sorry for the referee. The look of amazement on his face when he turned around and saw Moises Flores lying spread-eagled on the canvas was almost comical. The difference between a punch landing before, on or after the bell is a split second and it would have been impossible for Rigondeaux to have stopped that last punch so the real question is did he launch it after the bell?

It can’t get much better than Gennady Golovkin vs. Saul Alvarez. Two great boxers-future Hall of Fame inductees who are both still at their peak and who love to fight aggressively. It’s a 50/50 fight for me so my neck is not going to emerge over the top button of my shirt anytime soon.

For me like so many others Mayweather vs. McGregor is a non-event which I wish wasn’t going to happen. It will prove nothing. There is no title at stake. There are no redeeming features. What puzzles me is why I feel so strongly. If I don’t care who wins why am I angry about it. There is a lot of anger in the boxing fraternity over this charade and it is being condemned by many big names in boxing. I don’t believe it will hurt boxing unless you feel that a knock to Mayweather’s dignity is important or are we worried that if McGregor wins it will mean that UFC is better than boxing. I find myself where I am totally a’gin it and I am not sure why I am so totally a’gin it-but I am. It is also irritating that they have selected 26 August the same night as Miguel Cotto’s fight against Yoshihiro Kamegai. It has to hurt that show as you can be sure that boxing, UFC fans and general sports fans will buy Mayweather vs. McGregor in sufficient numbers to make it one of the largest sporting events in history-and I am still a’gin it. The WBO are in favour which does not surprise me at all.

Mauricio Sulaiman has been talking up an Anthony Joshua vs. Deontay Wilder fight. Sure it is a good fight but don’t you think after five voluntary defences Wilder should fight a mandatory challenger before he looks outside the WBC ratings for an opponent?

The WBA have stripped Beibut Shumenov of their secondary cruiser title and upgraded Yunier Dorticos to their secondary champion. They have also ordered their super champion Denis Lebedev to fight Mark Flanagan, their No 8, with the winner to fight Dorticos so that they then meet their stated aim of one champion in each division. Shumenov has not fought for 13 months and reportedly has an eye injury that may force his retirement. The fact that their super champion Lebedev was beaten by Marat Gassiev in December is ignored as that fight was only for the IBF title which makes it all a mockery. As for their one champion why do they show”vacant” against the secondary titles in four divisions if they are trying to drop them altogether?

Usual blatant manipulation of their ratings by the WBA saw Paul Smith go from nowhere in March to No 5 in April even though he had not fought since September. It wouldn’t be so bad if the just slipped him in at No 15 but subtlety has never been their strong point.

A fight with David Lemieux would certainly give Billy Joe Saunders a chance to boost his profile. No fault of his that Avtandil Khurtsidze got arrested but by 16 September the scheduled date for his next fight he will have had only one fight in 21 months. He and Lemieux have been exchanging barbs but the timing has to be right for Saunders to take on a big puncher like Lemieux and unless the WBO order it a voluntary defence in September and Lemieux after that might work out better for him but he must be desperate to get back into action.

The HBO show on 9 September will feature five of the top super flyweights in the world with Roman Gonzalez vs. Srisaket, Carlos Cuadras vs. Juan Francisco Estrada and Naoya Inoue vs. Antonio Nieves. Gonzalez will be looking for revenge for his controversial loss to Srisaket which cost him his WBC title. Cuadras and Estrada will be fighting for the right to meet the winner for the WBC title with Inoue defending his WBO title against Antonio Nieves. The WBO have not yet managed to switch Nieves from No 7 bantam to somewhere at super fly since he lost to Nikolai Potapov in March but they will.

The date for the return fight between Vasyl Lomachenko and Omar Salido is set for 8 August. The brilliant Ukrainian will be looking to get revenge for his lone loss as a pro when Salido came in overweight and roughed up Lomachenko on the way to a disputed split decision. The 36-year-old Salido has had wars of attrition with Terdsak, Roma Martinez and Francisco Vargas since then and for me Lomachenko will get the win I thought he deserved the first time.

Also rolled out for our pleasure is the Adrien Broner vs. Mikey Garcia fight for 27 July in New York. An intriguing fight that Broner dare not lose. He struggled to beat Adrian Granados on a split decision in February and Garcia is a much tougher proposition. I would take him to easily beat anyone at lightweight and be the only one capable of giving Terence Crawford a real challenger at super light.

The WBA have called for purse bids for the return fight between Jamie McDonnell and Liborio Solis for their secondary bantam title. They met in November with McDonnell winning the unanimous decision which proved controversial in some circles but which I though McDonnell won clearly. The minimum purse bid is set at $120,000 with McDonnell share of the purse 75% and Solis 25%. The problem is that although a good fight at a figure of over $120,000 it is only viable as a support to a much bigger fight

The supporting fights for the 1 July fight between Manny Pacquiao and Jeff Horn will see Jerwin Ancajas defending his IBF super fly title against his No 3 challenger Teiru Kinoshita. Ancajas gave Pacquiao his first world champion as a promoter. The Japanese fighter is ranked No 3 although the first two places are vacant. He can’t go into one of those slots as he has not beaten a rated fighter-but it is OK to put him No 3! Irish hope Michael Conlan will face Jarrett Owen and Jonel Dapidran, a cousin of Pacquiao, will also be on the card.

The worrying part about signing up to the VADA CBP is that you might actually get a random test. That’s the case for former European champion Dennis Ceylan. The Dane tested positive for cocaine and now waits to find out what punishment is in store for him.

Still on Danish boxing Mikkel Kessler has ruled himself out of the World Boxing Super Series. Quite sensibly he decided that after four years of inactivity he would need a lot more time to prepare before entering that competition.

On almost the same day as Kessler made that decision former WBA champion Firat Arslan said he wanted to take part in the tournament. The 46-year-old German fights 31-1 Goran Delic on 15 July for the vacant WBO European title and is hoping to impress there to earn an invitation.

Still in that part of the world Swede Erik Skoglund has despaired of landing a title shot at light heavy so has decided to move down to super middle. Not sure who he is targeting but there are very few easy avenues at super middle whereas if Andre Ward moved up there would be three vacant titles at light heavy.

Former WBC super middle champion Sakio Bika is returning to action. The Cameroon-born Australian tackles Australian Luke Sharp (14-5-3) in Sydney on 8 July for the vacant WBC Asian Boxing Council title. It will be the first fight for over two years for Bika.

On 1 July Oscar de La Hoya will be heading down to Villa Mercedes in Argentina for the inauguration of a new sports centre there. His cousin Diego will fight in the main event of opening show against Alan Isaias Luques.

Fights to watch out for: In his first fight since losing his WBO title to Olek Usyk in September former WBO cruiser champion Krzys Glowacki (26-1) returns to action on Saturday against unbeaten Turk Hizni Altunkaya (29-0). August 15 Kyoto Shinsuke Yamanaka (27-0-2) meets unbeaten Mexican Luis Nery (23-0). It will be defence No 13 of his WBC bantam title for Yamanaka.

Interesting to see that the EBU have set a date of 19 July for purse offers for the fight between Ahmed El Mousaoui and Frankie Gavin for the vacant European Union welterweight title as Gavin makes another effort to get his career rolling again.

Late substitutions are the bane of the sport. Last weekend in Estonia there was to be a fight between Robert Helenius and Ian Lewison for the WBC International Silver title. Not a bad fight until things fell apart. With Lewisham not able to fight the search went on for a last minute replacement. One was found that was acceptable to the WBC but was not acceptable to Helenius and the only name left on the board was a poor opponent in Evgeny Orlov leaving the choice between a bad fight and no fight and probably no show so a choice between a rock and a hard place for the WBC. Helenius vs. Orlov went on for the Silver title and no one got hurt so sometimes we have to work with shades of grey in this sport.

WBC super featherweight champion Miguel Berchelt has gone to jail. Don’t panic! He has visited a jail in Hermosillo, Mexico giving exhibitions and talking to young inmates about how with work and discipline they can fulfil their dreams. He has fitted this into his training for a title defence against Takashi Miura in Inglewood on 15 July.

The boxing fraternity in South Africa lost two of its stalwarts in Freddy Rafferty and Len Hunt. Rafferty, a former South African cruiser champion, scored some good wins over opposition such as Piet Crous and Tony Fulilangi in a 14 year career finishing with a 32-14-2 record. Hunt was a top class referee but his major contribution came in his work with the South Africa National Boxing Control Commission as they rebuilt the sport in a post apartheid period. RIP gentlemen.

The latest news on German boxer Eduard Gutknecht is not good. Since collapsing after his fight with George Groves and undergoing extensive brain surgery in England Gutknecht is now back home in Germany. Although there has been slight progress his condition is still serious. He can hear and see and has slight movement of his head and arms he is unable to speak. Boxing people from around the world have made donations to help his wife and three children at this time including a generous donation from George Groves and his team.Italian Bepi Ros is another undergoing a bad time. He has serious health and financial problems and again the 74-year-old former Italian heavyweight champion has found the boxing fraternity generous with their help.

The Astana Arlans took a 4-1 lead in to the second leg of their WSB semi-final encounter versus the British Lionhearts at the prestigious York Hall in London.

First up at flyweight (52kg) debutant Niall Farrell took on Olzhas Sattibayev. Not much of note was landed by either man in a tentative opening round but Farrell didn’t seem overawed. At times Farrell stayed in the pocket a bit too long allowing Sattibayev to score with combinations but the Lionhearts youngster finished round 2 strongly and was still in the fight. Farrell had great success with the right hand in round 3 before Sattibayev edged a close 4th with the fight still in the balance. There was lots of endeavour from both boxers in the last round but it was Sattibayev who gained the split decision in a highly enjoyable bout where Farrell made a real impression and announced himself as a talent for the future.

In a now must win scenario at lightweight (60kg) Kiwi Chad Milnes was up against experienced operator Zakir Safiullin. Milnes made a confident start but Safiullin’s punches began to have an effect and a beautiful right hand put Milnes down near the end of the opening round. The Kazak upped the tempo and utterly dominated his opponent in round 2 and Milnes was wisely pulled out before the third, giving Safiullin the victory and securing the Arlans spot in the WSB final.

There were still 3 bouts left and India’s Manoj Kumar faced Aslambek Shymbergenov at welterweight (69kg). Shymbergenov won the opening stanza scoring well with the jab and the right hand. Despite a small cut and the occasional success from Kumar Shymbergenov continued to control the action over the next 2 rounds. Kumar put forth a real big effort and pulled Shymbergenov in to a toe-to-toe scrap in round 4 before Shymbergenov responded in the 5th to claim the unanimous decision.​The penultimate contest was at light heavyweight (81kg) with Tom Whittaker-Hart squaring off against Arman Rysbek. Rysbek started quickly before Whittaker-Hart managed to establish the distance in the second half of the first round. Whittaker-Hart moved well to begin round 2 but Rysbek landed some solid shots in the later stages. The Kazak built on his success and bullied the Lionheart in round 3. Whittaker-Hart produced more movement and good footwork to take the 4th and although Rysbek never stopped applying pressure it wasn’t enough with Whittaker-Hart prevailing via split decision to give the Lionhearts their first win of the evening.

The final fight of the night saw Super heavyweights (+91kg) Patrick Mailata and Nursultan Amanzholov take to the ring. Mailata’s quick hands saw him win the opening round and the man from New Zealand easily out landed his Kazak opponent in round 2. Amanzholov had no answers and a big left hand from Mailata put him down and the corner brought a halt to the contest in round 3. The Arlans won 7-3 after both legs and will face either the Cuba Domadores or the Colombia Heroicos in the final.

The semi-finals of the WSB commenced at the Kostanay Sport Palace in Kostanay as the Astana Arlans hosted the British Lionhearts.

Kicking off the action were the Light flyweights (49kg) with Temirtas Zhussupov versus Kiaran Macdonald. Neither man threw much in a very quiet opening round. Zhussupov got the better of round 2 with both choosing wisely when to let their hands go. The Kazak again shaded proceedings in the third with Macdonald simply not throwing enough punches. Zhussupov’s experience began to tell and despite a respectable effort from the WSB debutant it wasn’t enough and Zhussupov won a clean sweep on the cards putting the Arlans 1 up.

Next up in the Bantamweight (56kg) division experienced Ilyas Suleimenov was up against Christopher Bourke who was making his WSB debut. Bourke landed some nice body shots in a tight opening 3 minutes. Suleimenov upped the ante a touch in round 2 but Bourke finished well and wasn’t looking out of his depth. Bourke had some success in round 3 but Suleimenov never looked in any trouble and was in control. Bourke enjoyed a decent first minute of the 4th but Suleimenov scored with some hurtful punches which lead to a badly damaged nose and Bourke was wisely retired by his corner at the start of the last round.

In what looked on paper to be a potentially exciting contest at light welterweight (64kg) Dilnurat Mizhitov squared off against Conor Loftus. The styles gelled nicely in an entertaining opening stanza with Mizhitov picking off Loftus as he came in. Loftus showed some good movement and targeted the body well in round 2 as the pair were happy to trade and let go with plenty of punches. Mizhitov clearly won round 3 and was having the last word in the exchanges. Loftus scored with some good left hands in the 4th and the pair engaged in some terrific toe-to-toe action. Loftus was again competitive in the final round but couldn’t sustain it for long enough and Mizhitov claimed the shutout victory to leave the Lionhearts staring down the barrel at 3 nil down.

It was then on to the Middleweights (75kg) as Abilkhan Amankul faced Nikita Ababiy. Amankul, who has been one of the finds of this season’s tournament made a confident start and landed with the more telling blows in round 1. Ababiy showed good intent but Amankul remain composed and picked his man off in round 2. Ababiy continued to be aggressive in round 3 but Amankul’s extra size and strength was beginning to tell. Ababiy continued to press and maintained an excellent work rate in the penultimate round. Amankul had his opponent on the ropes for spots in the last round and despite Ababiy being on the front foot throughout the contest it was the Kazak who was declared the winner via unanimous decision to give the Arlans a 4 nil lead.

The final bout of the evening was at heavyweight (91kg) as Anton Pinchuk took on David Nyika. There wasn’t much to split them over the first 2 rounds with Pinchuk inching forward and Nyika aiming to keep the fight at range. Nyika used the jab to great effect in round 3 as Pinchuk was made to fall short with many of his attempted combinations. A point deduction and blood pouring from the nose added to Pinchuk’s issues in round 4 and by now Nyika was in full command. The home man needed a miracle to turn things around but that never looked likely and Nyika cruised to a wide point’s victory to give the Lionhearts a glimmer of hope going in to the second leg in London on Thursday.

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These articles are submitted by guest writers and sites. They aren't submitted by the usual folk behind Asian Boxing and don't fall in line with our editorial stance, giving a fresh view on various boxing issues from the Asian boxing scene.